Reviews/Film;
Cops-vs.-Crack Formula By Mario Van Peebles

By JANET MASLIN

Published: March 8, 1991

The villain's prized possessions are now computer disks that hold business records of his illicit operations. But beyond that, very little has changed. The staples of the drug-lord exploitation film remain familiar, among them clanking gold jewelry, free-flowing champagne, silk suits and enough gun-toting strongmen to make the whole voyeur-tempting operation perfectly secure. It takes confidence even to revive this genre nowadays, let alone to invest it with anything new.

Fortunately, Mario Van Peebles, another actor who proves to be as comfortable behind the camera as he is in front of it, directs "New Jack City" with as much energy and flash as this film's weary formula will allow. With a title that refers to the ruthless self-interest of contemporary urban street culture, "New Jack City" tells of a seductively powerful drug kingpin named Nino Brown (Wesley Snipes) and the hipper-than-usual police operatives intent on bringing him down.

Nino Brown, modeled loosely on the notorious heroin dealer Nicky Barnes but updated to accommodate the crack trade, is the film's liveliest creation. As played commandingly by Mr. Snipes, Nino embodies every imaginable cliche attached to underworld activity -- there is even a scene in which he shakes up all of his henchmen by suddenly attacking one of them -- yet still manages to seem his own man.

The film presses its luck when it describes Nino as being "in the tradition of Joe Kennedy," or lets him attribute his business ethics to Reaganomics and the American way. It works best when simply letting Nino revel in his megalomania, which is effectively heightened by a pious streak; he actually weeps when killing a friend in one climactic scene. The film's flamboyant portrait of Nino may be stereotypical, but Mr. Snipes makes it chilling.

Mr. Van Peebles's direction can be overly ambitious, attempting odd angles and arty compositions, but for the most part it is efficient and unobtrusive. The film's use of once-imposing, now-crumbling New York architecture is particularly effective in underscoring the story with an air of widespread urban decay. These settings, strikingly photographed by Francis Kenny, are often quietly surprising.

Also in "New Jack City" are the rapper Ice-T, memorable as a dreadlocked undercover cop on Nino's trail; Bill Nunn, still most familiar as Radio Raheem in "Do the Right Thing," as a drug henchman with a stutter; Mr. Van Peebles himself, as a nice-guy detective; Allen Payne, as the friend whom Nino is almost too conscience-stricken to kill, and Anthony DeSando, as a sleek Italian gangster whose attempt at antagonizing Nino costs him his ponytail. Judd Nelson, as the lone white hipster in the film's mostly black cast, starts off looking ridiculous behind a goatee, dark glasses and self-consciously dangling cigarette. Even he manages to become more or less likable before the film is over.